Chapter 3: The Road Not Taken

After your SSC Exams/Result, you may have to take a decision regarding the choice of a career. What factors will you consider?

Choose from the block below and complete the web-diagram.

Is the option easy/difficult?
Your capability
Your likes/dislikes
Friends’ decision
Parents’ profession
Your skills/inborn talents
Study the ‘Job Profile’ carefully
Easy money
Possible difficulties
Your ultimate aim

SOLUTION

Form pairs or groups of four. Think of the situations when you have to choose between two things. Make a list of those situations. Some of them may be minor or trivial things - for example, what to wear when going out. Some choices may be related to important things, for example, having to decide between games and studies, whether to confront a close friend about something that he/she did, owning up to your mistakes, etc.

Discuss how to decide what to choose.
Write about what you feel when your decision proves right.
Write about what you feel when you regret the decision.

SOLUTION

Situation 1 - Which Chapter to omit while studying for the examination?
Questions	Answers
Discuss how to decide what to choose.	This decision should be taken on the basis of how important the chapter is -its pros and cons.
Write about what you feel when your decision proves right.	I feel overwhelmed and more confident while giving the exam.
Write about what you feel when you regret the decision.	I feel crestfallen but it gives me a new desire to start up with something new.

Situation 2 - Decision on a career.
Questions	Answers
Discuss how to decide what to choose.	Not just better income but also whether I have the skills and experience and the desire to take up the challenge of a new job.
Write about what you feel when your decision proves right.	It is a feeling of great happiness and pleasure that lifts up the spirit. I would have a more positive attitude in life.
Write about what you feel when you regret the decision.	It would upset me and I would almost have a physical reaction of wanting to get away from the situation.

Read the poem again. Does it have a uniform rhyme scheme throughout?

Write down the rhyme scheme of every stanza separately.

1st stanza ______
2nd stanza ______
3rd stanza ______
4th stanza ______.

SOLUTION

The poem has a regular rhyme scheme throughout.

1st stanza - abaab
2nd stanza - abaab
3rd stanza - abaab
4th stanza - abaab.

Write the symbol that is used in the poem to represent the following idea.

Choice of two options.

SOLUTION

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.

I made a rare choice.

SOLUTION

Then took the other, as just as fair.

Equally good options.

SOLUTION

And both that morning equally lay.

It was tempting and needed to be tried.

SOLUTION

Because it was grassy and needed to wear.

Some other time.

SOLUTION

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Rearrange the following facts in the proper order and fill in the flow chart.

He chooses the one barely travelled.
Choosing the lesser-used road has made a great difference.
He observed one, as far as he could.
The traveller came to a fork in the road.
He planned to travel along with the previous one some other time.

SOLUTION

Think and write in your own words.

In which season does a greenwood turn to a yellow wood? Which stage in our life can be compared to that season?

SOLUTION

Greenwood turns yellow during the autumn season. Old age can be compared to the autumn season because green leaves turning yellow signifies that life of the leaf is coming to an end similarly old age signifies a person is nearing the stage of death.

Why did the traveller choose the road less travelled? What attribute of the traveller does it bring out?

SOLUTION

The road less travelled means the road had not been used by many which may have forced the writer to take an experience which very few had taken. The Poet's decision of choosing the other roadshows that he is an optimist who is full of hopeful confidence, spark, and creative energy. He is a person who believes in magic and endless possibilities.

Why does the traveller doubt that he shall ever come back?

SOLUTION

The poet wants to convey that one decision leads to another and we seldom get a chance to change them.

If you were in the traveller’s place, which road would you choose? Justify your choice.

SOLUTION

I am a very enthusiastic person and would therefore like to travel through the unknown. I like adventure and would therefore like to explore the uncommon path as the poet did. Challenges are something that helps me judge my capabilities. I would like to venture into the path which has been less travelled and unknown to the rest of the world.

From any collection of classic poetry or the internet, find another famous poem by Robert Frost titled ‘Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening’. Try to understand the symbolism used in that poem in 8-10 lines.

SOLUTION

Robert Frost's poem 'Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening' symbolizes the journey of life and a movement towards death. Almost every single element in the poem in that sense is symbolic of something. The undefined traveller on horse-back reminds us of the knights of the Middle Ages in the course of a heroic adventure. The cold and the dead of night and the frozen lake in the woods, the 'darkest evening of the year' - all these elements build an ambience where the immanence of death is at odds with the indomitable spirit of love, as exemplified by the traveller.

The owner of the woods is referred to but his name has not been mentioned. This can be a reference to the mystic and almost unnamable presence of God. The oath of the traveller to go on come what may, keeping his promises before he has to submit to the final call of death, an eternal sleep of sorts. The end of the poem is thus replete with philosophical symbolism.

Write a letter to your friend or cousin telling him/ her about a difficult choice you have recently made, for example, pursuing one sport or hobby rather than the other or choosing between your studies and hobbies.

Tell your friend/ cousin how his/ her example helped you to make a decision.

______

______________________________________________

______

_____

SOLUTION

D-204, Estate Garden,

Sector -17, Matunga,

New Bombay.

12th July 2018.

Dear Malika,

I hope you are doing great in your life. As you know my result will be out within a month. I have done well in all my papers. I am confident of getting more than 90 percent marks in all my subjects. But I was a little bit confused about what to choose as a profession - to be a doctor or an engineer and fortunately, it reminded me of you and all my doubts were cleared as you have always been an inspiration in my life.

You know I have a great fascination for a career in medical science. I have been good at science since childhood. Besides, a doctor is the custodian of national health. He helps the suffering humanity, all these factors helped me in deciding my career in the field of medical science and be a doctor. You being a doctor have gathered a lot of experience, received love and affection from your patients and their family. This is something that impressed me and helped me in taking my career decision.

I trust your judgment more than my own. Please let me know your thoughts on this subject. You are someone who seems to know right from wrong. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for letting me express my concerns to you.

Yours lovingly,

XYZ.